FreightCar America, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2025 Results

Published: 2025-05-05 16:16:23 ET RAIL

Published on 05/05/2025 at 16:16

Gross Profit Increased 26% with Gross Margin Expanding 780 Basis Points

Generates Quarterly Operating Cash Flow of$13 million and Adjusted Free Cash Flow of$12 million

Strong Order Intake Supports Reaffirmed Full Year Guidance

CHICAGO, May 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ: RAIL) (“FreightCar America” or the “Company”), a diversified manufacturer and supplier of railroad freight cars, railcar parts and components, today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

First Quarter 2025 Highlights

“We continued to solidify our position as the fastest-growing railcar manufacturer in North America, driven by strong commercial execution and operational discipline. In line with our expectations for the first quarter, we achieved robust margins, once again outperforming our industry peers, reflecting our commitment to differentiated product offerings and exceptional commercial discipline. Order activity remained strong, with 1,250 railcars ordered during the quarter valued at approximately $141 million, underscoring our ongoing momentum and expanding market share,” commented Nick Randall, President and Chief Executive Officer of FreightCar America.

Randall continued, “Looking forward, our healthy backlog and growing inquiry pipeline position us for a meaningful ramp up in deliveries for the remainder of the year. While the industry has experienced some delays in order placements, we have continued to capture significant market share through our agility and superior responsiveness to customer needs. We reaffirm our previously announced full-year guidance and remain confident in our ability to deliver profitable growth and increased market share, further strengthening our long-term competitive position.”

Fiscal Year 2025 Outlook

The Company has reaffirmed outlook for fiscal year 2025 as follows:

1. The Company does not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA guidance due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying adjustments necessary to calculate such non-GAAP measure without unreasonable effort. Material changes to such adjustments, including warrant liability and non-core operating items, could affect future GAAP results.

Mike Riordan, Chief Financial Officer of FreightCar America, added, “We remain in a strong financial position, generating consistent operating and free cash flow, marking our fourth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow, while ending the quarter with over $50 million in cash on hand. Our disciplined approach continues to drive margin strength and consistent cash generation, reinforcing our balance sheet and providing significant financial flexibility. We are firmly on track to achieve our full year guidance targets and remain committed to sustainable value creation through continued operational efficiency, commercial execution and delivering positive free cash flow for the year.”

First Quarter 2025 Conference Call & Webcast Information

The Company will host a conference call and live webcast on Tuesday, May 6, at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss its first quarter 2025 financial results. FreightCar America invites shareholders and other interested parties to listen to its financial results conference call.

Teleconference details are as follows:

About FreightCar America

FreightCar America, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a leading designer, producer and supplier of railroad freight cars, railcar parts and components. We also specialize in railcar repairs, complete railcar rebody services and railcar conversions that repurpose idled rail assets back into revenue service. Since 1901, our customers have trusted us to build quality railcars that are critical to economic growth and instrumental to the North American supply chain. To learn more about FreightCar America, visit www.freightcaramerica.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements relating to our expected financial performance, financial condition, and/or future business prospects, events and/or plans that are “forward-looking statements” as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Our actual results may differ materially from the results described in or anticipated by our forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties relate to, among other things, the cyclical nature of our business; adverse geopolitical, economic and market conditions, including inflation; material disruption in the movement of rail traffic for deliveries; fluctuating costs of raw materials, including steel and aluminum; delays in the delivery of raw materials; our ability to maintain relationships with our suppliers of railcar components; our reliance upon a small number of customers that represent a large percentage of our sales; the variable purchase patterns of our customers and the timing of completion; delivery and customer acceptance of orders; the highly competitive nature of our industry; the risk of lack of acceptance of our new railcar offerings; potential unexpected changes in laws, rules, and regulatory requirements, including tariffs and trade barriers (including recent United States tariffs imposed or threatened to be imposed on China, Canada, Mexico and other countries and any retaliatory actions taken by such countries); and other competitive factors. The factors listed above are not exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time that may cause our business not to develop as we expect, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We expressly disclaim any duty to provide updates to any forward-looking statements made in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes measures not derived in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), such as EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted EPS, Free cash flow and Adjusted free cash flow. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for any measure derived in accordance with GAAP and may also be inconsistent with similar measures presented by other companies. Reconciliations of these measures to the applicable most closely comparable GAAP measures, and reasons for the Company’s use of these measures, are presented in the attached pages.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because it eliminates the impact of certain non-cash charges and other special items that affect the comparability of results in past quarters. Adjusted EBITDA is not a financial measure presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, when analyzing our operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other statements of operations or statements of cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA is not necessarily comparable to that of other similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

We believe that Adjusted net income is useful to investors evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because it eliminates the impact of certain non-cash charges and other special items that affect the comparability of results in past quarters. Adjusted net income is not a financial measure presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, when analyzing our operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted net income in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other statements of operations or statements of cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our calculation of Adjusted net income is not necessarily comparable to that of other similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

We believe that Adjusted Diluted EPS is useful to investors evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because it eliminates the impact of certain non-cash charges and other special items that affect the comparability of results in past quarters. Adjusted Diluted EPS is not a financial measure presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, when analyzing our operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted Diluted EPS in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other statements of operations or statements of cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our calculation of Adjusted Diluted EPS is not necessarily comparable to that of other similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

We believe that Free cash flow and Adjusted free cash flow are useful to investors evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because these metrics provide key insights into the potential for growth and ability to generate returns for investors. Free cash flow and Adjusted free cash flow are not financial measures presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, when analyzing our operating performance, investors should not consider Free cash flow or Adjusted free cash flow in isolation or as a substitute for Cash flows from operating activities or other statements of operations or statements of cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our calculation of Free cash flow and Adjusted free cash flow is not necessarily comparable to that of other similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

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